


I could always sleep so easy next to you

by cactuslesbian



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Autistic Doctor (Doctor Who), Childhood Friends, Class Differences, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gallifreyan Culture (Doctor Who), Spoilers for Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, brax is trying to be a good bro, eventually, its gonna be compliant with that, puts on my clown makeup and marks this m/f, technically, there are ocs peppered in now and again. mostly background, they're babies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:26:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactuslesbian/pseuds/cactuslesbian
Summary: Koschei looks at her as she lies with her head on his lap and idly runs her fingers over the smooth stone he'd found for her in the river and hums something soft under her breath. People rarely take the time to understand Theta-Sigma the way he has.But they're the same, in their hearts.
Relationships: The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 123





	1. A North Star In Our Souls

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is baby's first doctor whamst fic. Please be gentle with me. I'm a big ol sucker for childhood friends to lovers and I recently read a post about the timeless children that heavily inspired this. 
> 
> https://cactidyke.tumblr.com/post/611464686740914176
> 
> The title is based on the jim croce song "A long time ago" bc im soft,
> 
> also the kiddos are abt seven here so,, no academy or schism yet. Yet.

Koschei’s head tilts at the strange little girl. Her robes have been hiked up and tied in a knot at her knees so she can climb the rocks a little easier. But her robes are already dirty, torn in places, her bare feet dirty and her shoes nowhere to be found. Her goal seems to be height; trying to get to the very top of this little land mass. And eventually she pulls herself up by her fingernails and elbows. There’s a few moments where Koschei is genuinely afraid she’s about to fall. But she makes it.

And then she spots him.

“You should join me!” She chirps. Her eyes are big and brown and full of light and life, head full of flyaway curls that hold no less than a dozen little twigs and silvery leaves. There’s a splotch of red dirt right on her nose. The girl drops to her belly and holds out a hand over the edge. “I’ll help you!”

“Alright,” Koschei agrees softly. 

And with that he makes his way up. He’s not the least bit athletic, a rubbish sprinter and not a much better climber. The strange girl has to pull him the rest of the way up and does with just a little too much eagerness. The two of them land in a heap of limbs.

The girl laughs and Koschei rolls onto his back and stares at that sky as she sits up. “Sorry ‘bout that. I’m Theta-Sigma, but you can call me Theta, if you want. I like the company up here n’ my brother won’t come up anymore, but, look---”

Theta gently bats at Koschei’s arm until he sits up,

“When the suns hit it just right the mountains look like they’re glowing. And from up here it’s great, trust me.”  
She begins to rock gently as she waits for the suns to turn the sky from blue to the tell tale orange of evening, and then Koschei sees what she’s so excited about. From this angle the sun reflecting off the mountains is quite beautiful.

“Toldja” Theta says brightly.

Koschei’s head tilts, “So you just come up here? Every night?”

“Mhm” Her fingers tap against the ground as she watches the mountains, “My father’s always busy n’ my brother has other stuff to do, so this is a good place to think and just watch.”

“---Right,”

And so the two of them sit and just watch.

\---

Koschei’s mother, Goldi, is asleep by the time he gets home. Her head rests on her hand and her free hand settles on her helmet as she sits curved into the armchair.

The boy gently gathers up a blanket and bundles it up around her shoulders, moves the helmet and sets a pillow under her head. He kisses her cheek and prepares to make himself something to eat when she stirs just a bit, 

“Koschei, my love, where were you?” She sounds so tired. Like she always does when she’s finished with her rounds guarding the citadel. “Those awful kids weren't--- they weren’t picking on you again were they?”

“No, mama.” he assures. “I think-- I think I made a friend? Her name is Theta-Sigma and she helped me climb up that big pile of rocks and we watched sunlight on the mountains”

He can’t quite tell if it’s just his mother’s tiredness or something else that makes her look concerned for just a moment, but it passes. 

“Don’t let her distract you, my love. Remember what’s important.”

“I know. I’m going to be a Time Lord.” He assures her. 

“Good boy,” And with that she yawns and falls back asleep.

\---

Theta runs at him like a little cannonball, and if it weren’t for the energy, the shoes she holds in her hands and those wild curls he wouldn’t recognize her. She’s much cleaner than she was yesterday. Her robes neat and dark and unsmudged; no leaves in her hair, nor is there dirt on her face. There is however, jam in the corner of her mouth.

But he doesn’t have much time to dwell on that before she all but tackles him. “--Hello! I don’t remember your name.”

“I didn’t tell you my name.” He informs breathlessly “It’s Koschei.”

“Oh! It suits you, you know.” Theta informs with a little nod and a grin. She inhales like she's about to ask a question, 

An older boy turns the corner, clocks Theta and sprints at her. He scoops her up before she can even properly respond, and she whines and wiggles. “Father told you not to wander off,”

“It’s boring, Brax! I don’ like it.”

The boy, Brax, frowns sympathetically and gently deposits her on the ground to continue his gentle fussing. He pulls a clip out of his robes and gently pins some of her curls back, brushes the jam from the corner of her mouth with his thumb. Gently takes the shoes from her hands and sets them in front of her feet so she can step into them.

“I know, Bug. But it’s just something we gotta do, y’know? It’ll be over with soon. Promise.”

Theta-Sigma looks downright deflated, like a balloon losing helium and reluctantly coming to earth. Koschei in that moment wants to step in on her behalf. That strange little girl who pulled him up. Who very clearly doesn’t want to go.

But he’s silent as Brax takes her hand and pulls her away. All he can do is wave back at her when she turns and gives him a little wave over her shoulder.


	2. Crooked Posture Is All You've Ever Known

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, doing a lil clown dance yesterday: idk if i'll add to this, aha,
> 
> anyway. going with some canon divergence in regards to looming in particular. I'm borrowing from the Giver, in the sense that in this fic in order to have a child, you apply for it with the council, genetic material is extracted, the child gets loomed, and ur good to go. 
> 
> Warning for child abuse and neglect in this chapter. Proceed with caution.

Her father doesn’t look at her unless he’s scolding. She only ever sees his eyes when they’re angry. Angry at her for not understanding, for understanding too much, for getting messy, for being too loud, too quiet, for not making eye contact, for a number of offenses really. And Brax tries to mediate between the two of them, but it rarely works out. 

Brax calls her ‘Bug’ as a term of endearment. He’s told her the story of how she spent her early childhood attempting to befriend the insects rather than fearing them time and time again. Theta-Sigma, future time lord, a friend of the bugs. 

He used to spend more time with her than he does now. Before he graduated from the academy, much of his free time was shared with her and she cherished it. He was the one who showed her where the best treats could be found, where to watch the suns hitting the mountain. He’d lift her up over his head while her arms outstretched and she could pretend to fly.

Their father wants Brax to go into the High Council or become a general. He says that all Time Lords in their family do, but Theta hasn’t felt that pressure. She doesn’t know if it’s because she’s so little, or if there’s something she isn’t seeing, but she can’t help but be grateful Ulysses doesn’t breathe down her neck like he breathes down Brax’s.

But now Theta hardly sees him unless it’s with their father and it breaks both her hearts. She misses him.

And that's why she tugs on Brax’s arm wordlessly as he’s about to leave in a silent plea for him to stay. She’ll be going to the academy herself soon, then she’ll hardly ever see him.

“We’ll play later, Bug,” He says, tapping her nose. 

“You always say that! And we **never** do!” 

Her old nurse used to talk a lot about inside voices, but whenever Theta got mad, that’d go out the window. She was either too quiet or too loud with little in between. 

All at once, a hard grip on her arm jerks her away from Brax hard enough to _hurt_. Hard enough to knock her to the ground. Ulysses stands over her with the usual look in her eyes and a simple command, “Do not distract your brother, Theta-Sigma. Are we clear.”

Theta’s face scrunches with a frown and she says nothing, eyes swimming with unshed tears. Ulysses grabs her face in his hands roughly and leans in. “Do we understand each other, Theta-Sigma?”

She manages a single stiff nod. Ulysses lets go. Brax doesn’t look at her as the two of them leave. And once again, she’s all alone.

\---

“Koschei! Koschei, Koschei, _Koschei!_ ” Theta punctuates each time his name is spoken with a little bounce, her hands attached to his arm. The boy only looks a little alarmed, so that’s progress, right?

“Hi, Theta--- Are you okay?”

And that gives her pause. Her head tilts, “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Koschei reaches out, touches her cheek lightly with the back of his knuckle. It’s still slightly damp and she hadn’t even noticed. That’s embarrassing. She wipes at her face quickly and quietly, “m’alright, it’s nothing.” 

“Okay,” He says softly, as though he doesn’t quite believe her. “---Wanna play by the river? We can make boats.”

“Yeah! C’mon then,” And with that, she takes his hand and runs off.

\--- 

When they eventually get bored with the boats, they skip rocks. Theta, knee-deep in the river, can’t seem to pick them very well no matter how many times Koschei tells her from his spot on the bank that she needs to find the flat ones, the smooth ones.

She likes the sound they make when they hit the water, if they happen to skip, that’s just icing. 

“What’s your family like, Koschei?” Theta asks after a moment and another rock sinking into the depths. 

Koschei thinks for a moment, “Just me and mum, really. But that’s okay.”

“Really?”

“I had a sister before I was born, but she--- She died.” Koschei chews his lip as he recalls his mother’s stories ( _or lack thereof_ ) of the event. “Hildre, wasn’t a time lord or anything. She wanted to be a guard, like mum, and she died in an accident. Mum wants me to be a time lord.”

“Same. I think my father wants me to be a general or in the High Council like he is. Like he wants my brother to be.” Theta throws a rock, this time not even attempting to skip it. She’s going for distance here. And when it hits the water with a splash, she turns and looks back at her friend, “Hey, Koschei? Does your mum like you?”

The boy looks startled by the question. Like Theta had hit him rather than asked about the woman who’d had him Loomed, who despite working so much would sing him to sleep after nightmares and tell him bedtime stories in the half-light. “Yeah, why?”

“Oh,” For some reason, this doesn’t look to be an answer Theta had hoped for. Her face scrunches and her hands ball into fists at her side.

Koschei decides not to press the issue.

\--- 

  
  


“And how are you doing, dear?” 

The time lord having tea across from her smiles cordially, but every atom that makes her is screaming to run, like this is a trap. Her father is terrified of this man, but he looks at her and talks to her as though regarding an old friend, a child he’s outlived.

“I’m fine,” Theta adds more sugar to her tea. “I made boats with my friend, Koschei.”

“That’s nice.” 

“Mhm,”

Sometimes the entire visit, about once a year, can be spent in relative silence when the two of them inevitably run out of things to talk about. Theta finds the visits terribly boring, especially for something her father tends to spend the entire day fretting about.

Once, when they thought she wasn’t listening, she heard the older time lord say how nice it was to just see her at this age. “She always goes a little off the rails after the schism, _always_ , but we can’t exactly keep her from it, now can we?” 

Theta still hasn’t figured out what he means by that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the doctor is essentially getting passed from Important Family to Important Family like a yugioh card every time they have to wipe their memories and reset them. Bc of looming, a new child who wasn't there yesterday is not a thing people blink will twice at, but Theta is starting to question why her dad views her more as an inconvenience than anything else, especially considering he would have had to apply to have her Loomed. 
> 
> Ulysses wanted a single, perfect timelord to carry his legacy. And then got saddled with the Timeless Child. Brax doesn't know yet. That's just his weird little sister. His little Bug,
> 
> Anyway,


	3. Until Our Compass Stands Still

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's probably clear I havent listened to any audios or read books or anything. I'm kinda?? taking a Lacroix of canon approach tbh. 
> 
> Anyway, have some babies playing with Telepathy, what could go wrong?

Theta and Koschei lie on their backs in the grass as meteors streak across the still-blue sky in bright flashes of light and color. Theta, as always, has a loose grip of his hand. Koschei has never met someone who needs physical reassurance like she does, but he’s happy to give it; didn't know he had so much affection to give or receive until Theta.

He thinks of the telepathy they’re going to refine in the Academy as he watches Theta’s face, serene and smiling softly in the light of the meteors. Sometimes he’d give anything to get inside her head and see what she was thinking at any time. 

“What? Have I got something on my face again?” Theta asks, face tilting in his direction. She wears a lopsided grin and wears it with ease. “What’re you thinkin’ bout, Kosch?”

“What are **_you_ **thinkin, ‘bout Theta?” 

Theta lets go of his hand, presses two fingers to his temple, shuts her eyes, and concentrates. All at once, Koschei can see inside her mind’s eye. Looking down at Brax as he swings her above his head with a huge grin on his face. Knees tucked into her chest while a nanny brushes her hair a little too roughly. His own face as she pulls him up the landmass they climbed the very first day they met.

As far as beginner telepathy with stranger goes, it's impressive, if not a little much. One of Koschei's books had once described telepathy like running water; that without control and practice Gallifreyans tended to let out too much or too little. And Theta, it seemed, was letting out a small flood. Koschei doesn't even mind, really.

But then there’s a flash of something _else_ for just a moment; An old man by the beach holding a gun, searing white-hot pain that Koschei can feel the echoes of enough to make him gasp out loud. 

Theta severs the connection crudely and quickly with a strangled cry, like she’s in pain from... whatever that was. As Koschei sits up he can see her holding her chest, tears running down her face and he peels away her hands, just to be certain. The robes underneath are blessedly free of blood, dry and dark as they ever are, even if both her hearts seem to be beating like drums.

He just doesn’t know why he was expecting there to be blood.

Theta reaches out for him, and Koschei pulls her close, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Like he can keep whatever just happened from repeating. Most Gallifreyans have an understanding that at this age, telepathy is a bit of a crap-shoot, but he’s never heard of anything like this and he’s just a little bit afraid. Because even as Theta’s sobs eventually turn to hiccups, he can’t help but feel like she _should_ be bleeding.

___

  
  


Goldi likes to sing while she and Koshei are home together. The song, he’s told, is a poem from the earth that she just sets to music. But Koschei doesn’t like to think too hard about it or even what it means. Just listen to her voice as she sketches.

_‘Come away, O little child_

_To the waters and the wild_

_With a faery, hand in hand,_

_For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand’_

Koschei looks up from his book for a moment and glances at her. He can tell he’s the subject of her latest sketch, as he is with many in her notebooks. Her little muse, she calls him. Once or twice she jokes that this is the reason she had him loomed.

“Something on your mind, baby?” 

“Mama, can you have memories of things that haven’t happened to you? Memories that feel real?”

Goldi puts her pencil down and something about her posture shifts. She stops sitting like his mother and sits more like a Guard; a coiled spring ready to strike.

“Koschei, did something happen?”

Her tone has shifted enough that he feels like he should never have brought this up, hearts constricting in his chest. There are no rules about experimenting with telepathy before you enter the academy; it’s not uncommon for siblings to speak to each other almost exclusively in their heads. But something tells Koschei that what he’s experienced second hand wasn’t _normal_. 

“Ah, just heard a story from one of my mates is all. Said his cousin showed him a memory that made him pee his pants,” 

“Oh. Okay. Well, your mate is full of shit,” Goldi relaxes a bit, picks her pencil up again, and all at once Koschei knows he did the right thing keeping this to himself. “Tilt your head this way for me, alright, love?”

“Okay, mum.”

___

When Theta gets back to the house, she makes a bee-line for her bathroom. She throws her robes onto the floor until she stands in just her thin undershirt and underwear and looks closely for any telltale signs of injury. 

The skin is still smooth with childlike youth, a familiar warm brown. And Theta even presses her fingertips into the spot where she’s certain the bullet should be, where a wound should be. But she can feel nothing of note, not even an echo of an injury.

She looks intently at her own face in the mirror, leaning in close like she’s about to start interrogating the glass. The face that stares back is one of youthful inquisitiveness and frustration; Wide dark eyes set in a round face and haloed by dark curls that go down past her shoulder blades. A face she's seen a thousand times, more. 

The mirror-Theta’s head tilts and matches other Theta’s frown. Because after she severed the connection she remembers two hands rising in defense, or possibly surrender, possibly pleading for mercy. But the hands had entered her eye line. 

And they had been much, much lighter-skinned than her own, not to mention adult-sized. She’s never regenerated before; she’s only been loomed seven years ago.

_Right?_

Before Theta can even register what she’s done, her fist connects with the mirror and the whole thing comes shattering down around her. The girl blinks once, twice. Then stares at her hand and the blood starting to dribble down it.

“ _Theta!?_ Theta are you alright?!” Brax’s voice comes from down the hall, then sprinting footsteps, and then the bathroom door slams open and he sees the state of her.

“Oh, Theta,” He kneels down and holds her hand in his carefully, “Theta, what have you done?”

___

Koschei stares at the ceiling in his bedroom, thinking of Theta, and the memories. What they could mean. Who the man with a gun could have been. Why she has that in her head.

And then there’s an urgent knock on his window. 

Koschei pads over only to find the familiar silhouette of his friend's head. The girl is clinging to the pipe outside his window with one hand and his windowsill with the other. Theta seems to be holding on by her fingertips and a prayer, and if Koschei had to bet, he'd bet that she made it all the way up to the second story by means of this very pipe. As soon as Koschei opens the window, the first thing she gets out is an urgent and strangled sounding “---Let me in,”

And he does, pulling her in by her elbows and the back of the dressing gown she wears over her pajamas and all but dragging her into his room until they’re both in a heap on the floor, breathing hard and exhausted but no worse for wear. And besides, Theta didn't fall, so Koschei can't help but be proud of himself for that.

“How’d you know where I live?” 

“I asked. Duh.”

“And you couldn’t have used the door?”

“Do I _seem_ like someone who uses the door?”

How very characteristically Theta, Koschei thinks. And then he notices the bandage wound around her right hand as he sits up, the little pinpricks of red that stain the tops of her knuckles. The boy can’t help but reach out and set his fingers on top of her’s.

“You’re hurt,” He says softly.

“I had a disagreement with the mirror. That’s all.” Theta’s voice is carefully level, even if she doesn’t look at him. She shrugs and inhales. “Can I stay the night? Father’s working late and when he gets back he’ll be cross about the glass and... Everything, really.”

“What about your brother?” Koschei asks, “Won’t he wonder where you are?” 

Theta just shrugs and Koschei decides not to press the issue. 

The two play cards until they tire themselves out and retreat to Koschei’s bed. His big down comforter is enough for the both of them and Theta curls into his side, injured hand resting on his shoulder. There are plenty of things to worry about, sure, but for tonight it’s warm and soft, and the soft half-light of the orange night sky seeping through the curtains and the night time bustle of a planet full of life lulls two best friends to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this all takes place in the span of a day tbh,, a rough timeline is like. 5pm: telepathy gone wrong, 6:30pm: theta busts the mirror, 7pm: goldi and koschei talk, 11 pm: theta lowkey breaks into her boys house
> 
> They will likely enter the academy in the next chapter and everything. Poor Theta is starting to have some Issues with her own personhood and in true doctor fashion is deciding to conceal not feel. 
> 
> I would also like to thank everyone for the lovely comments on this fic!! they mean so much to me and I genuinely cherish every single one!!


	4. If We're Made Of Dust What Makes Us Any Different?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh the more i develop my personal hcs for gallifrey, the more i look to the Giver, but with less of a 'utopia at all costs' model and a more 'conformity at all costs' model.
> 
> Also i apologize in advance as there won't be as much thoschei in this chapter. Perhaps the next one.
> 
> Anyway; Hello Naughty Children It's Schism Time,

Koschei gently pulls Theta’s hands away from her mouth. He knows that when she gets nervous she bites her nails, sometimes right down to the beds and makes them bleed. So instead, he holds her hand tight, rubbing soothing circles into the back of her knuckles with his thumb. 

“Charity Case and The Freak, at it again.” A child laughs in passing. 

Koschei moves to hurt the boy; he’s used to being called a charity case. Kids like him don’t normally get into the Academy. It's full of Legacies, kid's loomed from long lines of important time lords, prominent families, generals, council members. Not guards. But no one gets to call Theta names except for _maybe_ him and only in an affectionate and teasing sort of way. But he’s stopped by Theta’s hand gripping his own almost tight enough to hurt and it grounds him. 

He hears her, in his mind, clear as a bell “ _It’s just Torvic. He isn’t even a little worth it, Koschei. Leave it._ ”

Koschei sits back down with a soft huff. Torvic is what Koschei likes to think of as an anti-Theta. He too comes from a prominent Gallifreyan family, has a father on the High Council, an older sister likely on the way to becoming a general or following her father’s footsteps and a brother already there, but Torvic is a mean and awful little boy who enjoys getting his kicks tormenting the two of them in particular. Theta doesn’t do anything to anyone unless they deserve it.

Koschei reaches into her mind to reply, “ _You’re right._ ”

" _Obviously._ "

In the months that have passed since their disastrous first attempts at telepathy, they’ve worked at it the same way one exercises a muscle. If asked, they can reason that it’ll give them a leg up on the other kids when they enter the Academy, but mostly they just like being in their own little world and having the ability to make everything and everyone else background noise.

Some days they don’t even need to be touching to reach into each other’s minds. But today he doesn’t need telepathy to see the nerves that radiate off Theta like waves, see how nervous she is.

There’s the entrance exam, then orientation, then... something else. They won’t tell the children what comes third, just that it’s a vital part of their Academy initiation and first steps to becoming time lords. Theta had begged Brax to tell her what it entailed and he refused to say so much as a word about it. Just told her she had nothing to worry about. Their family produced time lord’s through and through.

Theta isn’t worried for her. She’s worried for _Koschei_ , though she’d rather die than let him know that. The only thing he accidentally let slip is that whatever they were facing in this third and unknown trial, they’d be facing alone.

That’s done nothing to sate her nerves. Theta’s fingernails wander back to her mouth and Koschei wraps his hand around her’s yet again.

___

Koschei is staring at a wall. Theta keeps gently prodding him for information as to what happened, but he doesn’t answer. He just stares blankly ahead like he can’t even hear her. No one’s told them whether or not he’s failed or passed, she just watched a stone-faced time lord walk him back out to the waiting area and sit him down. And now he can't or won’t even speak.

Theta quietly wraps her hand around his and for maybe the first time, his hand doesn’t curl around her’s. It makes her want to cry. Scream. Demand to know what just happened. But Torvic is looking at the two of them with a look that feigns innocent concern, even as his lips turn up at the corner.

He leans in and whispers to his friend, “Told you he wouldn’t make the cut. Just not good enou--”

Torvic doesn’t even finish the word before Theta’s lunged at him, knocking him to the ground and slamming her little fists into his face over and over, then anywhere she can reach. Years of climbing and building forts in the barn have made her stronger than this little prat, even if he’s bigger than she is, and by the time an adult peels her off of him, Torvic has swallowed a tooth and lost about a handful of hair.

“You can go next. Come on.” The time lord says, gripping her arm and pulling her away. 

Theta has no objection to that. Might as well get it done with. If it’s bad, it’s bad, but it will be over with. At least that’s her thought process right up until she walks past Koschei, who grabs her wrist urgently and looks up at her,

“Do you hear them, Theta?”

The time lord pulls her away. 

Koschei had looked more afraid than she’d ever seen him.

  
  


___

  
  


The time lord’s instructions had been simple. Just look. All she had to do was look into what they had called a _‘schism’_.

And so Theta does.

___

_ There’s a blonde woman smiling and offering to pay for chips, calling someone a tightwad--- _

_ There are beasts of all shapes and sizes--- _

_ There’s a man there who calls himself Captain Jack (seems a bit cheesy) and asks why he can’t even say hello to people--- _

_ There are children running and playing, shrieking with joy as they play on an odd structure--- _

_ A little brunette saying “Let me be brave,”---  _

_ There’s a planet dying. There are Millions of planets dying. Millions of planets are being born, as well--- _

_ There’s little boy is looking down as someone falls from a cliff and hits the ground--- _

_ There’s an old man with a gun---  _

Faces pass by in quick succession. Thousands. Millions. Billions. More. They flicker by so fast Theta feels as though her head will explode with it. The entirety of time and space is unfurling itself before her like a spool of thread and for a moment all she can do is stare in horror. 

And then she turns and runs. No one tries to stop her.

Theta runs with no clear destination in mind, just away. She has to run away from whatever that was and she does. She runs until her legs are sore and her hearts ache, lungs burn. And even then she doesn’t stop. 

When the girl does finally start to slow down, she’s in a thicket of trees. Her robes are torn, hair full of silvery leaves, face and arms covered in scrapes that sting when her tears touch them. 

Theta lays down and curls into herself. And finally, she cries. Really cries. Loud, gasping sobs that rack her entire tiny body and eventually turn to quiet hiccups as she falls asleep right there on the forest floor.

___

  
  


The Time Lord who visits maybe once a year finds her a little over a half-hour after she cries herself to sleep, curled up around herself.

He smiles softly and sadly at her as he drapes a blanket over her and lifts her into his arms, settling her head against his shoulder. He often ponders just keeping her perpetually at this age, having her reset every time she hits eight years old and just keeping her. Maybe taking her to some far off planet, just the two of them, like old times. But that won’t do. 

The Timeless Child can’t be stashed away and it’s been decided long ago that he can’t be the one to raise her no matter how badly he would like to.

So The Other simply keeps a watchful eye, intervenes when necessary, and loves the daughter they found so long ago from a distance. 

Theta shifts a bit, mumbles in her sleep. He presses two fingers to her temple to get an idea of what she’s seen and takes the liberty of... _housekeeping_ the more specific details. The broader things she can keep, but, the finer points will be dangerous. 

The Other presses a gentle kiss to the top of her head, and Theta continues to sleep soundly.

He hasn’t gone by Tecteun in nearly a Millennium, but the Timeless Child is, was, and always will be _**theirs**_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway! Tecteun/the Other is fucking horrifying! but we been knew!
> 
> Also i added chapter titles bc Spicy,
> 
> Anyway, thanks again to everyone who left lovely comments and left kudos, I love you and hope u find money on the ground <3

**Author's Note:**

> Not yet sure if im gonna continue this as irl shit is a Lot right now. But I do have a general direction for where it's going. And if i do more tags will be added. Please hmu with any corrections and let me know what you think!!!


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